I don't own Harry Potter, or the characters within, or the cover picture which is by Burdge Bug. :)
It isn't as though Lily Evans hates James Potter. She just doesn't like him.
Okay, so there are a few things she likes about him, but, as a whole person? She doesn't like him at all. Sort of.
She likes his untidy black hair and the way it rumples and sticks out in the back. She notes that, despite how messy it may be, it always looks soft, and that just makes her want to run her fingers through it…
But that doesn't make up for his arrogance which suffocates Lily whenever she happens to be in his general vicinity. Because why else would she be so short of breath whenever he's nearby? And especially when he ruffles his hair, too.
She likes his eyes when they shine and gleam and twinkle with mischief. She likes the way his eyes brighten when he sees her (Wait, what?). She likes their color (hazel) and the depth of their intensity when he concentrates on his work… not that she's been looking. She's just… happened to notice.
But, anyways, she likes his eyes and the circle-shaped glasses that frame them and glint in the light. But mostly, she just likes the eyes themselves. (That was a creepy-sounding sentence.)
But that doesn't make up for how he always bothers her. I mean, who asks out a girl over and over again, just to be turned down every time? Can he not take a hint?
No, his eyes in no way make up for him asking her out all the time and every annoying prank that leads up to the expected question. It makes her so mad that her whole face goes red when his eyes sparkle annoyingly as he waits for her response (with no regard for personal space, either); because there certainly can't be any other reason that Lily Evans's face flushes when James Potter gets a little too close for comfort.
She likes his easygoing grace.
She likes the way he swings his bag over his shoulders or tilts his chair back to ruffle his hair (which she hates, except she likes it, too, if that makes any sense). She likes the fluid motion he uses to push his chopped plant roots into his cauldron using his knife, and she likes the way he smiles, satisfied, when he finishes his Charms essay and folds his arms behind his head. She likes almost everything about the way he moves; way too much to list.
But that doesn't make up for that cocky grin that he always has on. She can always feel herself scowling when she sees his thinsoftthinsoft lips quirk up in one corner to form his trademark smirk (often accompanied by the hair ruffling that she so detests, yet doesn't). She also finds herself glaring more than she probably should, because how else would you explain her intense stares? Because, of course, Lily Evans would never be caught dead eyeing the curve of James Potter's lips.
She can't point out the thing she likes most about James Potter; maybe it's the way he talks, or his voice. Maybe it's the way he looks soaring out on the Quidditch pitch with a look of utter determination, red and gold fabric whipping around him. Or maybe it's his laugh; oh, she loves his laugh. When she hears it, she's almost immediately soothed. But, then again, maybe it's that look he gives her sometimes, one that she doesn't quite understand, but it still makes her stomach erupt in butterflies that make her tingle down to her toes and cause a silly, goofy grin to dominate her face until she can get herself under control.
But she thinks that nothing can make up for the way he treats Severus, her best friend. Severus has stuck up for her since they were little; he showed her the beautiful world of magic and vowed to be her friend forever. They made a pact, a deal, but that doesn't illustrate how at ease Lily is normally around him. She admits that he's changed, that he's going in over his head with all the Death Eater nonsense and the Dark magic. She doesn't like that one bit. But, she knows that, deep down, he'll always be her best friend who played with her in the meadow and gave life to the fantasy of real live magic.
Well, that's what she thought, until, completely humiliated by that infuriating James Potter, her "very best friend" called her a… God, she can't even say it.
And it hurts and stings and crying doesn't help at all. I'll never forgive him, she thinks bitterly to herself, mopping tears off her pathetic face and glaring at herself in the mirror. Her hair is unkempt and her eyes are rimmed with red. I'll never forgive him for this. He was her best friend! How did this happen?
The only answer she can come up with that doesn't knot her emotions and throb like a slap to the face is James Potter. Of course it's all James's fault; Severus wouldn't be that upset and tormented if it wasn't for him! James ruined Severus's life! He was always humiliating Severus, calling him names like "Snivellus" and hexing him when Lily's back was turned. It's ALL James Potter's fault.
She thinks she'll never forgive him either.
Even though, buried inside, she knows it's not his fault, and that Severus must have meant some of what he said to have said it. After all, why should she be different than the rest of them?
She still pins some of the blame on James.
But, in the moment when he comes in to see her crying and apologizes over and over and hugs her close and covers her in his jacket (which is stained with dirt and grass from Quidditch and smells of the wind and James himself) and apologizes some more and asks if she needs anything and apologizes again, she feels it dissipate for a moment. But it's only a split second, and she's fuming again and spits out that she hates him, she hates him.
She can feel the hurt in his eyes, but he backs up and leaves. And her heart aches for and from everything, and she can't even decide what hurts the most. But when he still comes back, with her favorite tea, and slips it next to her without a word and sits there for a moment, she isn't so furious at him. But not enough to say anything, so the hostile silence drags on until James leaves.
When Lily recovers, when she laughs shakily again for the first time since what happened, when her friend that coaxed the laugh from her beams like sunshine, she isn't so bitter anymore. She still hasn't forgiven Severus, and she knows somewhere that she'll never forget what happened, but she knows she can survive it. She can make it without him.
And when she's having another heated argument with James, again, and suddenly he takes her face into both hands so that their lips touch and she melts against him, it's all passion and fireworks and sparks and fire. And Lily Evans realizes that maybe she can and will forgive James Potter.
She can live with his arrogance, his (sometimes) exasperating personality, and his smirks, but what she can't do is live without him.
And there's something else to add to the things she likes (loves) about James Potter – the way he kisses her.